The Lagos state government has
identified poor access to knowledge about sexual health as one of the major
reasons most women in the state have sex before the age of 18.

The state government also
lamented that no fewer than 24.2 per cent of women in the state have their first
sex as adolescents

The Commissioner for Health in
the State, Dr Jide Idris, made the disclosure on Thursday while delivering a
lecture at the Inspiration FM’s (92.3) Inaugural Lecture and Award Ceremony on
Victoria Island.

The Commissioner spoke on “Reproductive
Health: Beyond Cultural Limitations and Concerns,” where he noted that the
statistics were based on the report of the National Demographic and Health
Survey and the Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey.

He said, “Nationally, the figures
are about 51 per cent. This implies that in Lagos, one out of every four women
would have been exposed to sex before 18 years, while the national average for
Nigeria is one out of two women.

“With an average age of first
birth at 20 years, about 22.5 per cent of pregnancies are by teenagers in
Nigeria. More worrying, however, is that reports show that as of this year,
about 40 per cent of women in the South-West have experienced physical violence
since age 15. Sexual violence cannot be excluded from the statistics.

“In other words, in a nation
where more than 60 per cent of its population are young people and significant
numbers of these young people are exposed to sexual intercourse at an early
age, either voluntarily or violently, a lot of problems emerge. Such problems
are associated with sexually-transmitted infections, childhood pregnancy,
trauma and its accompanying physical and mental health implications.

“This means that there must be
access to knowledge about sexual health and systems that modify behaviour, as well
as, access to services that prevent and manage them.”